Accountant Had Talent For Finding Little Mistakes

OBITUARIES

Edward Phethean of Leesburg was so good with numbers that it was his job to check the math of other accountants. He also liked to control the family checkbook.

Phethean, a career inspector for the Internal Revenue Service, died Saturday at the age of 77. Phethean worked for the IRS for 25 years, inspecting the work of IRS agents across Pennsylvania.

''He went from one office to the other to inspect the books and make sure there was no monkey business going,'' said Jeannette, his wife of 51 years.

Phethean was somewhat uncomfortable about his job and didn't talk about it much, his wife said.

''In a sense, he was spying on his friends. But he felt it was an important job, and he was good at it. He was able to see little inconsistencies that added up to something very big.''

But Phethean had a sense of humor about working for the IRS. He joked that he was an undertaker rather than admitting to his line of work, his wife said, until he inadvertently said that to an undertaker.

His coal miner father, who had a natural talent for math, instilled in his son a love of figures, Jeannette Phethean said.

Sometimes, she said jokingly, her husband nearly drove her crazy, such as the times she handled the couple's finances.

''I took over the checkbook when he was working out of town. I would struggle every month. He'd see me and say, 'I could do it. I'm an accountant after all.' I didn't want him finding my mistakes.''

Phethean, a World War II veteran, retired in 1978, and the family moved from Bensalem, Pa., to Leesburg in 1980.

The couple spent recent years tracing their genealogy to the 1600s.

Other survivors are sons, James of Brandon; Edward of Bensalem and George of Leesburg; a brother, Glenn of Somers, N.Y.; two sisters, Jeannette Powers of Whitehouse, N.J., and Muriel Allford of Pennsylvania; and seven grandchildren.

Page-Theus Blanchard Funeral Home, Leesburg, is in charge of arrangements.